Letters to the Editor - Dec. 7, 2012

Friday

Dec 7, 2012 at 3:15 AM

To the editor: Recently the Northwood School Board going over budgets was shown the default budget with unreal numbers. Board members questioned the default numbers and the Superintendent said, “Nobody checks the default.”

The reason for that is the faulty legislation which puts the two boards in charge of making the default budget to be approved or checked by no one. Our legislature who wrote the laws didn’t provide for any checks on the Default Budget, even the Budget Committee has no say over it.

The law needs to be changed but for now citizens have the option of circulating a petition R.S.A. 40-14-b which if voted allows the towns budget committee to make up the default budget. Who better than the budget committee who ask the questions and understand the budgets of the town and school.

I will circulate Deerfield’s petition and am willing to share the petition with anyone asking.

Harriet E. Cady

Deerfield

To the editor: By requesting 19-26% increases in spending for the next two years, state department heads know they have a friend in Governor-Elect, Maggie Hassan.

Maggie’s 2010-11 Budget, as Senate Majority leader, was $11.5 Billion, 24% higher than the $9.3 Billion by Republicans in 2006-07, a massive increase during the Great Recession. This liberal Tax-and-Spenditis cost her a Senate Seat and Dem. Majority in House and Senate.

One can only hope that Hassan has changed her ways, and parts with her largely Tax-and-Spend Liberal Extremist friends. We are on the verge of another Recession.

Don’t hold your breath.

David K. Martin

Dover

To the editor: The members of the Staff Appreciation Committee at Riverside Rest Home would like to send out a heartfelt thank you to the Somersworth Market Basket for helping us with a very big order.

After making calls to several stores and suppliers in the area, Market Basket was able to provide the best price and the quantity we needed.

The employees of the meat department went the extra mile and saved us a ton of time by helping us load the order into our bus. We couldn’t have done it without them.

Denise Froton,

Chairman

Staff Appreciation Committee

Dover

To the editor: Members of Charles S. Hatch Post #79, the American Legion, of Berwick, Maine, recently completed their Fall Raffle and Spaghetti Supper. This annual event is conducted by the Post’s Veterans and Community Support Committee headed by Post Chaplain Paul R. Lapierre. The combined proceeds from the dinner and raffle ensure that Post #79 has the resources necessary to support veterans and their families, area schools, Scouting programs and the local community.

Post #79 provides Christmas packages to Berwick service members, monetary support for food baskets for local families at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and donations to heating assistance, benevolent funds and food pantries in the Tri-City area.

Throughout the year, Post #79 supports Boy, Girl, Cub Scout and Brownie activities and sponsors both Legion and Berwick Recreation Department baseball teams. In addition to sponsoring a Noble High School student attending Boy’s State, a program in Maine government, Post #79 provides scholarships and recognition of community service by prospective Eagle Scouts and graduating high school seniors.

None of this would be possible without the incredible outpouring of support from the many area businesses that donate raffle items, goods and services. The 150+ men and women of Charles S. Hatch Post #79 thank each and every one of the dozens of businessmen, businesswomen, friends and neighbors for their generous donations and continued support.

All these businesses and contributors are listed on the Charles S. Hatch Post #79 website at www.berwickmelegionpost79.org, along with their contact information. Please patronize them this holiday season. Let’s shop local and do our part to keep these valuable area businesses booming.

Rosanne Martin

Public Relations Officer

Post #79

Berwick, Maine

To the editor: It is great news that Massachusetts’ new law allowing animals to be included in domestic-violence restraining orders has already been put to use by protecting a South Shore dog named Panzer.

Animals frequently become victims in homes plagued by violence. Many batterers try to control their victims, such as a partner or spouse, by threatening, torturing, and/or killing the victim’s animals. Many victims of domestic violence are reluctant to leave the situation for fear of what will happen to their animals if they aren’t there to protect them.

Massachusetts’ law will undoubtedly save animal as well as human lives, because it allows people in abusive situations to ensure that their beloved animal companions will be protected if they leave. Let’s hope many other states follow suit and pass similar laws. To learn more about the link between domestic violence and cruelty to animals, visit www.PETA.org.

Martin Mersereau

Emergency Response Team

PETA

Norfolk, Va.

To the editor: At this point, most everyone agrees that climate change is very real and that it will affect us dramatically over the coming years and decades. Never has it been so real as in the new film “Chasing Ice.” Here we see the God-given beauty of our planet’s ice as it wastes away before our eyes.

That such beauty has been captured on film is remarkable. It is the painstaking work of over five years and covers some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. The Seacoast is privileged to have one of the few theaters in the country selected to display this cinematic masterpiece on a large screen. This theater is the Music Hall in Portsmouth. And, it will be on display both Friday and Saturday night this weekend.

If for no other reason than the grandeur of the photography, we should all make the time to view this film as it was meant to be seen. To learn more, please visit www.chasingice.com. Showtimes are listed there along with the trailer.

Duane Kimball

Barrington

To the editor: To answer the question asked in the front page of your Sunday, 2-12-12, issue: No, this is not the end. The end is near, and coming nearer every day, but it will come only after a definite sequence of events, and they have yet to happen.

It’s simply not just another instance of the foolishness of disregarding Acts 1: 7 (Jer 8: 9!!) but of putting trust on the utterances of a pantheon that proved as helpless before the cross as the Celtic deities of the droids before St. Patrick, the prophets of bowl before Elijah and the multitudinous Egyptian deities before Moses (Isa 37: 20 & Dr 32: 37 )

Word to the wise.

B.J. Figueredo

Gonic

To the editor: I have to disagree with those who are advocating for the construction of public restrooms at the Rochester Common. Although the idea is commendable, the problems this would give rise to would be significant and costly.

Vandalism is prevalent at unattended public restrooms throughout the country. All you have to do is Google “vandalism at public restrooms” and you can read volumes about chronic, expensive vandalism at public restrooms, particularly in municipal parks. In many cases, the vandalism has been so extensive and so costly that the restrooms have been permanently closed.

Some of the recurring conditions encountered at these unattended restrooms include broken toilets, toilets ripped from the wall or floor, feces and urine spread throughout the restroom, doors ripped from their hinges, paint and other substances spread throughout the interior, smashed sinks, destroyed soap and toilet paper dispensers, broken light fixtures and drug paraphernalia scattered about.

Although restrooms can be constructed with vandal-resistant materials and fixtures, this is very costly and does not result in vandal proof facilities. It does, however, result in much higher repair costs.

Before giving the go-ahead for construction of the restrooms, Rochester officials would be wise to consider providing for a full-time attendant to watch over them. Costly? Yes. But in the end the cost of an attendant may well be less than the cost of repairing chronic vandalism damage.